Rudolph Giuliani’s announcement last week in regard to not running for governor or for the U.S. Senate seemed almost expected. The mayor owes nobody in New York another run for office, and his appearances in the media do not obligate him to serve further. Running in New York as a Republican is a completely different experience, however, and to some degree he was given a chance when nobody else was.

Even with Mayor David Dinkins having difficulties in the early 1990s, it took a huge concerted effort to get Giuliani the needed 40,000 votes or so that put him over the edge and made him mayor. The city may no longer be in need of a Giuliani-type manager, but the man’s skill set is still valuable.

How difficult it must be to be the New York State party chair of the GOP. Here you have this nationally respected figure in your ranks, and he not only continues to stay public, but also never really commits to a campaign. Even when he does commit, it’s usually late in the game.

Giuliani insists that this announcement was not the end of his career as a politician, but it was. He will be remembered by many as our city’s best mayor.

Alec Baldwin was the original Jack Ryan in the Tom Clancy movies that came from the best-selling novels. When Baldwin filmed The Hunt for Red October, he was immediately slated to take on other Clancy projects – Patriot Games, Clear and Present Danger, just to name two. But Baldwin wanted to get back to theatre, and decided to commit to the play A Streetcar Named Desire. So the studio went with Harrison Ford, and you know how that turned out.

Years later, Baldwin explained how hard it was to get back to film after saying no to Hollywood. “Once you turn down the invitation to the party,” he said to Charlie Rose “they don’t invite you back.” Giuliani may think he can wait until he is 69 years old to run again, but the party is going on without him.

While it is not for us to decide Giuliani’s future, he was given what most New York Republicans never get: the chance to govern. When you wonder why people want to run for office and go through all of that aggravation, it is because it is the opportunity to do something great.

The reasons that Giuliani has given for not running were also a little disappointing. He thought that because of the turmoil in Albany that he could not be relevant. Isn’t that why we want Giuliani there? He is a fixer, and Albany needs fixing. Imagine a plumber saying that he would consider coming to fix your pipes, but there’s too much water in his way.

Giuliani’s security firm is quite successful, and has a contract with Brazil for when that country hosts the 2016 Olympics. “It would be hard running from Brazil,” Rudy explained. Is Brazil in 2016 really that much more important to him? If it is, then we might applaud his decision. My votes for Rudy were still the best I ever cast.

So Rick Lazio, the former congressman has set out to be governor, and he now has Giuliani’s blessing. Lazio has a big mountain in front of him. He has been out of politics for a little while, and he has not been in state government before. But he is always in a good mood, always friendly, and he suits up for the big games. Lazio may have his work cut for him, but he has a plan to fix the pipes.